PLAYER TO WATCH: D Roman Josi. The Predators will start pairing the 22-year-old defenseman with captain Shea Weber trying to replace Suter, who averaged a team-high 26 minutes and 30 seconds of ice time per game last season. Josi averaged 18:23 with the Predators going 34-15-3 with him in the lineup last season and 14-11-5 without him.

OUTLOOK: With Weber and goalie Pekka Rinne now signed through the next six years, the Predators believe that core and youth has them primed to build on consecutive trips to the Western Conference semifinals and get them to the Stanley Cup.

VANCOUVER:

LAST SEASON: 51-22-9, 111 points. Lost to Los Angeles 4-1 in first round.

PLAYER TO WATCH: Cory Schneider. He replaced Roberto Luongo during last year's first-round exit and the 33-year-old goaltender seem to be on his way out. The 26-year-old Schneider signed a three-year, $12 million contract extension last summer.

OUTLOOK: The Canucks have perhaps more urgency than any other NHL team to win the Stanley Cup. Vancouver led the league in points the past two regular seasons. After being a win away from hoisting the Cup for the first time in 2011, the Canucks won only one postseason game last year against the Kings.

Goals in Thursday night's meeting between the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators figure to be at a premium, especially based on the first time these teams faced off.

Roberto Luongo outdueled Pekka Rinne last month, and these goalies could match up again when the Canucks open a four-game homestand.

Nashville (11-9-6) is the NHL's lowest scoring team at 2.2 goals per game while Vancouver (12-7-6) has scored two or fewer goals in five straight games and is 0 for 22 on the power play in its last nine.

It's probably not surprising then that Vancouver won 1-0 in the first meeting Feb. 22. Both goalies made 23 saves, but Dale Weise beat Rinne for the lone goal in the third period.

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault had started Cory Schneider in five of six games before turning Tuesday to Luongo. The veteran came through with 26 saves in an effort his coach said was "excellent" as Vancouver ended a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 shootout victory at Columbus.

"We needed one," Luongo said. "You don't want to go on a losing streak. That's no fun to be around in times like that. We knew it was going to take an ugly one to get out of it and now hopefully we can get things rolling here."

Rinne, meanwhile, posted his second shutout in three starts with 32 saves Tuesday in a 4-0 victory at Dallas in the opener of a five-game trip. The Predators ended an 0-5-1 road slide in which they scored one goal or none five times.

Four different Nashville skaters scored and David Legwand and Craig Smith each had two assists. The Predators were 4 for 4 on the penalty kill.

"It's a huge trip for us. It's obviously nice to get that first game right away, get a big win. This is what we needed," said Rinne, who has allowed one goal in his last three outings. "We scored timely goals, and our penalty kill tonight was really good."

Shea Weber and Gabriel Bourque scored on the power play while Nashville's penalty kill came through after yielding goals in 10 consecutive road games prior to Tuesday.

"We need our special teams to be good, and they ended up being pretty good on both ends," coach Barry Trotz said. "The best penalty killer was obviously our goaltender, who was outstanding. But a lot of guys contributed."

Henrik Sedin had a seven-game point streak end Tuesday for Vancouver, which is enduring its longest stretch of scoring two goals or fewer since doing so for six straight games Nov. 23-Dec. 4, 2006.

Vigneault insists that his club will turn it around.

"Our psyche was good," he said. "We've been playing better hockey than what people think."

Rinne is 2-2-0 with a 3.66 goals-against average in five career regular-season starts at Vancouver although he went 2-1-0 with a 1.41 GAA there in the 2011 playoffs.

Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa has missed five straight games with a groin injury.

The Predators' Paul Gaustad left Tuesday after the second period with an upper body injury and didn't return.